Walnuts, Wings and Fish
What’s New in Lisa’s Studio?
This weekend my husband and I experimented in making some
black walnut ink. I got the idea to try this while paging through some
magazines and cutting out images of flowers for a collage. A back issue of Mary Jane’s Farm magazine had a small article by Judith from Iowa,
detailing her process. It was quite simple really. “A couple dozen walnuts from
the yard-some, black some green” …in a stockpot, covered with water. Simmered
about 3 hours instead of the recommended 8 because it “stunk up the house”! We
did everything the same as Judith, but we cooked ours outside on the fire pit
for 8 hours. Saturday was a lovely day to do this. There was a slight breeze
and the temperature was in the low 70’s. We sat out by the fire pit most of the
day chatting, adding wood to the fire and reminiscing about the past summer.
After letting the pot cool for about 45 minutes we used a
slotted spoon to remove nuts and hulls. Then we ran the liquid though a sieve
once and then filtered it twice using cheese cloth. The yield was two-quart
jars of dark brown ink. Judith also
recommends adding some vinegar to prevent molding.
Below are the initial trials with my brand-new ink. Since I
do not have a dip pen with tips I experimented with a brush and a hand carved
nib from a tree branch. They worked well! 
Both a fellow artist and a friend, who is an archivist
advised me not to use black walnut in for pieces that I want to last. The ink
is evidently very acidic, without the added vinegar and is not considered
archival safe. But I still feel that it
is a unique medium and valuable because it is an all-natural pigment. Plus I just love the sienna tone and transparency of this particular batch!
I plan to experiment more by adding some thickeners to the
ink in order to use it on either dry-point plate or some small linoleum blocks
or even premade rubber stamps. And, if I decide to participate in #Inktober, I
will most likely use this ink.
Ongoing
The L. Marie Printmaking online store is now open! Come on
over to check out some of the works I am offering! Today I am featuring my
print “Under His Wings”. This is a monoprint mixed media piece. I used pressed
sage leaves from my garden and multiple layers of different inks to create the
feathers. The quote is from Psalms 91. The idea of being shielded by God
himself, is especially comforting to me. I hope that this piece inspires solace and serenity.
Other types of prints in the shop are linoleum block prints,
mixed media pieces and dry-point prints. I will be updating the items
frequently so please check back often. If you have a question about an item,
the shop or anything please reach out to me by email: lmarieprintmaking@gmail.com
Link to the shop here
In the works
I am thinking more about Fall these days. So, in the spirit
of Halloween I created these fun and whimsical cat toys. One side is a
beautiful goldfish and the other side is a fish skeleton. I did not realize
until much later that the symbols on these toys sort of tell a story. For the
Chinese, the goldfish symbolizes prosperity. Other sources tell that a fish
skeleton can symbolize the story of the feeding of the five-thousand from the
gospel of John making the fish skeleton a representation of having faith in
being provided for and to not take things for granted. Maybe they tell you a different story...
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